Directed by:
W. S. Van DykeCinematography:
Oliver T. MarshCast:
Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy, Jack Holt, Jessie Ralph, Ted Healy, Shirley Ross, Margaret Irving, Harold Huber, Edgar Kennedy, Al Shean (more)Plots(1)
Mary Blake arrives at Blackie Norton's Paradise gambling hall and beer garden looking for work as a singer. Blackie embarrasses her by asking to see her legs, but does hire her. She faints from hunger. Nob Hill Socialite Jack Burley and Maestro Baldini of the Tivoli Opera House see her singing and offer her a chance to do opera, but Blackie has her under a two-year contract which she sorrowfully stands by. Later, when he makes up posters featuring Mary in tights, she does leave for the Tivoli. Blackie gets an injunction against Burley, but knocks out the process server when he hears Mary's performance as Marguerite in "Faust". She asks her to marry him and she agrees to go back to the Paradise as his kind of singer, but Blackie's childhood chum Father Tim intervenes. After Blackie slugs the priest, Mary leaves. She is soon the star of the Tivoli and Blackie's place is closed down. She sings a rousing "San Francisco" on behalf of the Paradise at the annual "Chicken Ball" and wins the $10,000 prize which Blackie throws to the floor. As she storms out of the hall a terrible rumble betokens the famous San Francisco earthquake. Buildings collapse, streets split wide open, the city burns, the army dynamites whole sections of town. After staggering around in a stupor Blackie finds Father Tim and the two of them find Mary at a Salvation Army camp. Backed by hundreds of others, they look out over the ruins which are gradually replaced by the shining new city with a reprise of the title song. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Dennis O'Keefe
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Fury (1936)
Vince Barnett
USA
Best movies:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Scarface (1932)
Robert J. Wilke
USA
Best movies:
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
San Francisco (1936)
James Murray
USA
Best movies:
The Crowd (1928)
San Francisco (1936)
The Informer (1935)
Bronislau Kaper
Russian Empire
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
Oscar Apfel
USA
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Conquest (1937)
Henry Roquemore
USA
Best movies:
The Great Dictator (1940)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Strike Up the Band (1940)
Irving Bacon
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
William H. O'Brien
Australia
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Mysterious Lady (1928)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Lillian Rich
UK
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
Jason Robards Sr.
USA
Best movies:
San Francisco (1936)
Wild in the Country (1961)
Born to Kill (1947)
Charles Sullivan
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Fury (1936)
Tom Dugan
Ireland
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Edward Earle
Canada
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Sam Ash
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Citizen Kane (1941)
William Newell
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Fury (1936)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Sherry Hall
USA
Best movies:
Fury (1936)
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
After the Thin Man (1936)
George Magrill
Best movies:
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952)
Love Crazy (1941)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Wilbur Mack
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Harry Strang
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
Edison, the Man (1940)
North by Northwest (1959)